Food Drops to Afghans Halted

The Pentagon stopped emergency airdrops of food and other humanitarian supplies to stranded civilian communities in Afghanistan on Monday, saying most such supplies can now be delivered by road.

Giant C-17 cargo planes had dropped pallets of food, tents, blankets, winter clothing and other relief supplies since the U.S. air war began in October. The aid program began with great fanfare but soon dwindled to about two deliveries a day.

Overall, U.S. military forces have flown about 17,000 operational sorties in support of the war against the Al Qaeda terror network and the now-defeated Taliban regime in Afghanistan, according to Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Klee, spokesman for the Pentagon’s Central Command in Tampa, Fla.

Klee said airdrops of food and other civilian supplies may still be considered “on a need-by-need basis” as the Afghan winter worsens. But with the opening of bridges and border crossings from neighboring countries, as well as airports near major cities, such deliveries are no longer useful, he said.

“Logistically, convoys can get to most places now on the ground,” Klee said.

Raids, Airstrikes Suspended, Navy Says

Private groups, backed by the U.S. Agency for International Development and other international aid groups, have begun massive relief and rehabilitation efforts in the war-ravaged country.

Klee said that raids by U.S. heavy bombers over the weekend had ended and that no airstrikes had taken place during the preceding 24 hours.

Multiple B-52s dropped precision-guided bombs on a large ammunition bunker and other targets Saturday. The strikes set off “lots of secondary explosions,” indicating a major supply depot, said Lt. Col. Ken McClellan, a Pentagon spokesman.

Other aircraft flew psychological warfare missions, broadcasting messages and dropping leaflets over Afghan cities.

U.S. forces previously have dropped leaflets to advertise a $25-million bounty for information leading to the death or capture of Osama bin Laden.

U.S. troops celebrated midnight Christmas Masses at Kandahar airport, aboard warships in the Arabian Sea and at other posts in the war zone but otherwise continued mopping-up operations, officials said.

Those efforts focused on the Tora Bora region, where small teams of U.S. and British commandos used thermal-imaging devices, night-vision scopes and sophisticated eavesdropping gear to hunt for signs--or remains--of Bin Laden in deep tunnels and fortified caves.

Klee denied news wire reports that as many as 500 Marines were poised to join the subterranean search in Tora Bora. Klee said Gen. Tommy Franks, head of Central Command, had not yet decided whether to deploy additional troops for the manhunt.

“It’s not necessarily going to happen,” Klee said.

U.S. officials said part of the problem was deciding whether U.S. forces or anyone else should undertake to clear and enter caves blocked by thousands of tons of rockfall and rubble left by weeks of heavy bombing. Tora Bora was the last major Al Qaeda stronghold to fall to U.S. forces and their local allies.

U.S. officials said they remained uncertain whether Bin Laden was still in the area, was killed during the bombings or had escaped across the border into the largely lawless tribal regions of neighboring Pakistan.